Why do bad things happen to good people?
by Ozzy Grimes
Summary: This started as a collaborative OC with myself and my friend, but after a while, she kind of gave up, so I took over her P.O.V. (she's piper btw). We have embodied ourselves into our OC's and placed them into season 4 of the walking dead. We'll see how things go.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: This is my first published fanfic, and for a while it was a collab with my friend, but after a while she gave up, so I took over her P.O.V (her OC is Piper BTW) This is an OC in which we have immersed ourselves as OC's into the world of the walking dead. Enjoy!

Jaime P.O.V. _Day 1_

"Oh my God Jaime, stop doing that!" Piper yelled at me. I quickly withdrew my hand from the bus window and stopped tapping out my pointless rhythms. "Thank you. Now hand me the map from my backpack."

"Alright," I said as I reached into her faded old thing covered with pins with different anime and video game logos. I pulled out the map of the area we were in and handed it to her as I sat up over her shoulder to see it.

"Okay, so if we're here," she said and pointed to a space on the highlighted road. "We need to find a spot to stop and get out in the next ten miles or so." We both scanned the map and looked for somewhere that seemed safe to stop at. About six miles off, I saw something.

"How about here?" I said and pointed. It was the old prison. Sure, it wasn't a traditional locale, but it seemed secure enough. I thought Piper would think the same way but I was wrong.

"Are you drunk right now?" she asked me. "That's a huge place, and it's probably full of those things. You're insane, Jaime."

"But that's the only place that's close enough to reach before nightfall."

"I don't give a shit!" She was being incredibly stubborn. I tried a new tactic. "Would you rather just stay here and sleep on the bus?" I asked her.

"Hell no! I'm sick of sharing a space with you!"

"Well, your choices are stop at the prison or stay on the bus. Besides, a few deadbeats are easy to kill." She huffed at me. "Fine. Prison it is." She put the bus in gear and headed toward the prison. As soon as she did, I sank back down in my seat and smiled. My idea worked, and we both could finally get off the bus for a while.

Piper P.O.V.

I hoped this prison wasn't totally overrun with those… things. It will take all night to clear out a place to sleep if it is. I didn't know why Jaime even thought this was a good idea but it did beat sleeping on the bus again, plus we needed to stock up on supplies.

"I swear to God if you throw another grape at me I will not hesitate to toss you out of this bus and let you walk to the prison!" I snapped at Jaime as she got ready to throw yet another grape at me. I swear that girl is hyperactive. She sighed and without even looking at her I knew she was pouting.

"My God I need some music." I muttered and put my favorite CD in and pushed play. I instantly relaxed when a Legend of Zelda medley filled the bus.

"Why don't you go lie down," I said to Jaime, "It will be a little while till we get to the prison, so you might as well rest up a bit before we get there."

-time skip-

"I'm gonna go piss, hold down the fort while I'm gone." I shouted back at Jaime as I parked the bus and got ready to go. I grabbed my swords and walked down the stairs of the bus not waiting for a reply. I started to walk into the woods, intent on pissing fast and getting back to Jamie before she did something stupid.

"Turn around and put your weapons on the ground." The voice of a man stopped me. I put my hands up and slowly turned around. There was a man with a crossbow pointed at me and a black woman with a totally sweet katana threatening me. I slowly slid the straps for my swords off my arms and gently placed them on the ground before slowly standing back up, and I took a step back for good measure. At that moment I saw Jamie starting to come out of the bus.

"Hey I heard voices what the shit's going on-" Jaime cut off when she saw the man and the woman.

"Just put your hands up and cooperate." I said to her, not wanting either of us to end up with one of those bolts in our skulls. Jaime put her hands up and I could see the fear in her eyes and, well, I was scared too, lord knows who these people are. Both people relaxed slightly before asking, "Do you want to come to our camp with us?" the woman spoke first.

"Depends on where it is." I answered carefully.

"We're in the prison not too far from here." I raised my eyebrows at that. _Of course they're at the prison._ I looked over at Jaime and saw that she had a smug look on her face as she nodded. That's all the confirmation that I needed.

"Sure," I told them.

"First we have three questions to ask." the man finally spoke up.

"Three? That's awfully specific." Jaime joked and I couldn't help but chuckle, but the other two didn't look amused.

"How many walkers have you killed?" The man asked, disregarding Jaime completely

"I didn't know I was supposed to keep count, next time the world ends I'll make sure to keep count." I answered sarcastically.

"How many people have you killed?" he completely ignored my comment, how rude!

"None," Jaime answered for me.

"Why?" Mr. Bad to the Bone questioned.

"We've been lucky to avoid most people so far." I told him truthfully. He lowered his crossbow and miss samurai sheathed her sword.

"Do you have any questions for us?" the redneck asked.

"What are your names?" I asked, "I don't think you'd appreciate the nicknames i've come up with for you."

"Daryl," Mr. Bad to the Bone said gruffly gesturing to himself, "and Michonne" he said, gesturing to the woman.

"I'm Piper."

"And I'm Jaime." My companion spoke up.

"Let's get going, before dark," Michonne cut in, "we'll lead the way," Daryl and Michonne headed toward their car and I looked over to Jamie.

"Well, we'd better get going, don't want to get left behind." I told her while picking up my swords and slinging them over my shoulders. She stepped into the bus and I followed, sitting in the driver's seat. I put the bus in gear and started to follow after Mr. Bad to the Bone and Miss Samurai.

Jaime P.O.V.

I couldn't keep the smile off my face as we followed the other car up to the prison. As we approached the gate, I prepared our bags to go inside. I had my stuff together, so I got up to cross the bus for Piper's stuff when she braked, so hard I fell.

"Hey, what the hell?" I asked as I sat up.

"They closed the gate on us. I almost hit their stupid kid." she leaned out the driver's window. "Hey! What gives?" she shouted at the man and kid that were controlling the gate.

"Just checking you out," the man said calmly but gruffly. "They say you're alright, but I need to give you clearance."

"So suddenly he's the king?" I said just loud enough for Piper to hear. I got her to laugh, but then the gate opened again and he was telling her to pull forward, so I shut up. We pulled forward and she stopped the bus. She opened the doors as the guy walked up.

"Step off the bus," he said. We hopped off the bus, and he called over the guy from earlier. "You think they're alright?"

"Yeah, they seem harmless," Daryl said. "And if they're good with the weapons they've got, they could be a real help."

"Alright." the gate manager said. "My name is Rick Grimes. You two can stay with us if you like, but if things get bad, you'll have to leave, understand?"

"Yes, sir," Piper said quasi-sarcastically. Rick shot her a look, then proceeded. "You can park over there," he said, pointing around the left side corner. "And afterwards, I'll have Carl take you inside."

"Thank you," I said before Piper could piss him off further. We both climbed back on board so she could park, and when we left the bus, we were greeted by four kids. Well, more like two teens and two kids. The kids looked like they were sisters, both girls, blonde with brown eyes. On the other hand (now this was all from appearance, don't judge) the two teen boys looked like polar opposites. One of them was nearly as tall as I was, with curly brown hair and glasses. the other was a quite a bit shorter than I am, he had kind of wavy kind of straight hair, a freckly face and blue eyes. He was kind of cute, even though he was short. That aside, I introduced myself and Piper.

"Hi, I'm Jaime and this is Piper," I pointed back to her with my thumb. "Rick told my partner and I that once we parked our bus, he'd have Carl show us inside, so could you tell us where he is?" I asked.

"That's me," the shorter of the two boys replied. I stifled a laugh as he turned and said "Follow me." We'd taken about three steps when he stopped to call out to someone. "DAD! Which cell block do you want them in?" Dad? Who's this kid's dad?

"Put 'em in D for now, we might move 'em later!" Rick called back. Question answered. Carl then proceeded to take us up a small set of stairs and through a metal door to a cell block bustling with people. We were taken up a central staircase. Three and four cells to the right of the top of the staircase, he stopped and opened the doors.

"Here's where you'll be for now, but my dad might move you later." He gestured inside one of the cells. "Make yourselves at home." I watched him leave, partially to remember where the exit was, and partially because he was still cute. As we proceeded into our cells, Piper started up her antics again.

"I really like that Daryl guy," she said and I heard her swords clatter to the ground. "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

"How do you know this? You don't even know him," I said as I put my beat up old bat through my makeshift holster on my back.

"He has great biceps, that's all I care about," she said and we both emerged from our cells. I laughed out of pity as we headed outside. We found Rick in a patch of vegetables outside the prison.

"Excuse me," I said to him as we neared.

"Yeah?" he said before I could finish my train of thought. No matter though.

"You let us join you, how can we help?" I asked.

"Hey now!" Piper said. "Don't we get a day to get our bearings?" She immediately began to protest. Typical. I elbowed her in the side to stop her. She grunted, but didn't continue.

"As I was saying, is there anything you need our help with?" Rick thought for a moment. The sounds of deadbeats against the chain link fence broke his train of thought.  
"Well, I guess we could have a few of you try to take out the walkers along the fence. You up to the task?" he asked. I looked at Piper and she nodded.

"Sure," I responded for the both of us. Rick nodded in agreement.

"That's great. But you two can't take out all of those things on your own, so I'll get you some help. Wait here," he said gruffly. We waited for a few moments as he headed inside for a minute and came outside with Daryl, Carl and the other teenage boy.

"Daryl, Carl, and Patrick can help you out," Rick said. "Get to it." The five of us headed to the fence. Daryl pulled an arrow from his crossbow and stabbed through a few of them, Piper doubled up on them with her swords, Carl used an old railroad spike, and I used the screwdriver I kept in my pocket. We'd taken out a few of them when I noticed Patrick wasn't being of any use at all.

"Hey Piper!" I said as I went after a particularly stubborn one. "Why's Patrick just standing around? Hah!"

"Which one's Patrick again?" Piper slashed through four at once.

"The one that's not doing anything, you dipshit!" I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. Taking out deadbeats was hard. I almost got my hand bitten off and I lost it.

"Hey, dipshit!" I called at Patrick, so loud it startled him. "Why are you not helping us!?"

"He just comes to observe," Carl pointed out as he shoved the railroad spike through the eye socket of one. "We're getting nowhere with this!" He yelled, clearly exasperated. Then, I got an idea.

"What if I went to the other side of the fence with someone and took them out that way? I can get quite a few in one swing, and if Piper comes with me, we could get the most of them out of the way."

"Fine by me," Piper stuck her swords through the eyes of one.

"If you're sure you'll be alright, go for it," Daryl said. "Carl can get the gate for ya, and then you'll be set." We headed off in the right direction, but Carl looked concerned.

"Are you sure this is a good idea? There are ten times as many walkers than there are of you two," he said, uncertain.

"Relax, kid, we'll be fine," Piper said. "Besides, it's not like you're real close with us yet, and what's two more biters for you to kill?" She really wasn't being helpful.

"We'll be fine," I reassured him. He didn't look convinced, but he went through with it. Daryl kept them distracted for a bit so we had time to get out there, and I tried to devise a plan.

"Alright," I thought aloud. "We go in on three." I checked our backs and said this to Piper. "One‒Hey where the hell do you think you're going?" she ran away from me!

"Screw you, Jaime, I got this," Piper took out three of them with a left-handed swing, but a wave came at her from the right, and she faltered. I tried to take a few out with my bat. It worked, but then we had guts all over us.

"Thanks," Piper said sarcastically. I grabbed her hand and helped her up as we swung our weapons violently. The bodies started to pile up when Piper said something that threw me off my game.

"So, when will you start going out with that Carl kid?" Her glasses got blood on them. "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

"What? Where on earth did that come from?" I had taken aim at one of the deadbeats when she said that, so it had gotten closer because I didn't swing. I took a quick and careless swing at it, missed, and fell on my back. I couldn't very well stab it with my old bat, so I kicked it in the stomach. Big mistake. It was so old it came in half, the top half landed on top of my chest, the snapping jaws were only inches from my face. I threw my head back to avoid a bite, but then I couldn't see to hit it in the face. SHHNK! One of Piper's swords went through the side of its head.

"Honestly Jamie, I don't know how you've made it this long," Piper sighed and shanked another one. "You really are stupid."

* * *

Piper P.O.V.

"You really are stupid," I said to Jamie as I helped her up.

"Shut your whore mouth," she said back to me.

"Yeah, whatever bitch just get your ass to work. Jesus." There were ten more of those things out there. I chased after a few of them and took them down with my swords. Four to go. Jamie got two with one hit, and I shanked the remaining two. Piece of cake.

"You did good," Jamie said, panting. God, if she got tired any more easily I swear.

"I could've done better if you'd get off your lazy ass," I said as we headed to the gate. I ran my hand along the fence.

"Hey! Open up!" Jamie shouted. Daryl and Carl opened the gate for us, and I noticed that the nerd from earlier wasn't with us.

"Where's that nerdy dipshit?" I asked. "He was here a second ago."

"Patrick? He went inside, he wasn't feeling well." Carl said. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. "Good God, it's hot out here." It really was, I hadn't noticed while we were fighting. Jamie took off her letter jacket that she insisted on wearing _all the fucking time_ and threw it over her shoulder. I remembered I was wearing my hoodie and slipped it off, too. Well, shit. It's covered with biter guts.

"Why do bad things happen to good people?" I said as I looked at the guts covering my Attack on Titan hoodie.

"What?" Carl asked.

"What do you mean, what?" I snapped back at him.

"You just asked 'why do bad things happen to good people?'"

"So?" I didn't see why this kid was so stupid.

"That's her thing," I heard Jamie respond. "Like, you remember how in some TV shows, characters would have their own catchphrases?" Carl nodded, acknowledging what Jamie said. "Well, that's like her catchphrase. She says it all the time. Like, ten times a day at least." Jamie smiled and rolled her eyes at him and he laughed. I punched her in the arm and she cut it out, but then I had a thought. _What if she and this kid started dating?_ I tried pitching the idea to her but she was turned around and having a conversation with him, so I decided to wait until later.

-Time Skip-

Jaime, Daryl, Rick, Carl, lots of other people and I sat around a large table outside for dinner. There was a barbecue and a huge fire pit, it kind of looked like Jamie's old backyard, actually. Good times. A woman with short gray hair was manning the stove and the girls from earlier were bringing plates to us. Jamie thanked the smaller one as she set plates in front of us. As soon as everyone sat and started eating, I asked who everyone was.

"So who are you guys?" they then proceeded to go around introducing themselves. The sword ninja lady from before said her name is Michonne, there's a little blondie named Beth and her older sister Maggie, Maggie's husband Glenn, Beth's dad, Hershel, the lady that made us dinner is Carol, the little girls are Lizzie and Mika, there's a couple named Karen and Tyreese, Tyreese's sister Sasha, a guy named Bob, some dude named David, and a doctor guy that everyone calls Dr. S. Then the questions started to fly.

"How old are you girls?" Michonne asked.

"I'm twenty and Jaime is seventeen," I said.

"How did you two get to know each other? Did you know each other before all of this?" Tyreese questioned next.

"We'd been in school together forever," Jamie said through bites of meat.

"Kinda, I mean we are three years apart so we hardly even saw each other at school but somehow we managed to keep in touch."

"So, Daryl‒" I got cut off by a terrified scream.

"Help! Help! Walkers in D! There are walkers in D!" A woman from cell block D ran outside.

"Shit! How did that happen?" Rick threw his chair out of the way and the rest of us followed his lead. We grabbed our weapons and followed her inside, ready to take them out.

"I don't know!" the woman replied. "Patrick came through earlier and said he wasn't feeling well, and then there were a bunch of us who'd been bit!" We hurried into the cell block and saw that it was worse than any of us probably imagined. It was _infested_ , like it was left to sit for a year or so. Any of the people who were in this block were goners, and the few left wouldn't last long.

"What do we do!?" someone screamed before they were targeted.

"Just kill them all! Anything you can, kill it!" Rick said and we sprang into action. I sliced at them left and right, Jamie was grunting and swinging her bat everywhere at once. Gunshots fired around us as the walls got painted with the cascading crimson of freshly spilled blood.

"Whoa!" I heard and looked off to my right to see Carl pinned on the ground by one. I turned to help but Jaime took a flying leap, fell, then got up to take it out with her bat. "Thanks," he breathed as she pulled him up.

"There's too many of them!" Beth cried out and fired a shot. "We need to just seal this block off!"

"That may be what we have to do, Rick." Michonne said. I heard this and thought of our stuff.

"But all our stuff's in here! Where are we going to go?" I sliced through three at once.

"Take all your stuff and move into C with the rest of us!" Rick said without hesitation as he embedded his hatchet in the head of one of them. "Carl and Beth can cover you!"

"You heard him, Jaime, get your shit!" I said as I barged my way up the stairs, Jaime following right at my heels.

"I know, Piper! I'm not as stupid as you think I am!" We hurried into our cells and got our stuff as fast as we could, with Carl and Beth standing right outside the doors, firing occasionally. We opened the doors and headed downstairs with the other two trailing us. We made it through the door and Rick locked it, sealing whatever was left in there inside. All of us were panting trying to catch our breath. Jaime slumped against the wall and slowly sank to the floor. All that fighting seemed to have worn her out.

"Now what?" Carl asked. "If they're all dead and we don't know why, how do we know what to do?"

"We'll figure that out later," Rick responded. "Right now, I need you to take Jaime and Piper to block C. Then come back out to finish dinner." Rick took the others outside as Carl held a flashlight and took us to block C. Once there, he led us to one cell.

"Is this the only empty cell here?" I asked.

"Yeah," Carl said sheepishly. "So you two could share a cell since you already know each other, or we can give one of you the cell to yourself and see if someone will share with the other. What do you think?"

"Jaime can have this one to herself, I can share with pretty much anyone," I admitted. I just didn't admit that I was sick of sharing a space with Jaime.

"Okay. Would you mind sharing with Beth? I think you two would be friends," Carl offered.

"That's good with me," I said. "I'll go find Beth." I found my way outside and let Jaime get her shit together.

* * *

Jaime P.O.V.

I collapsed onto the bed in my new cell after I dropped my stuff onto the floor. I'm still not used to a crowd that big or so much physical activity. I tried to calm down but it wasn't easy with the air quality of that place. I closed my eyes and coughed.

"Are you okay?" I heard Carl ask. I felt his weight on the end of my bed as he sat.

"Yeah," I sputtered. "I'm just not used to fighting that many of them at once. And the air is really thick and full of gunk, so it's not helping with my asthma." I felt so pathetic because I was still gasping for breath.

"Are you sure? You don't sound too good."

"Yeah, I think I'll just stay here and rest some," I coughed more. "I don't really feel like going back out there." No sooner had I said that than the rest of them started trickling in.

"It started raining, so we had to bring dinner in here," I heard Piper say. She walked in and set my plate next to my head. "Eat this if you want. Holy shit, Jaime, are you okay?" She asked.

"Fine," I breathed. "Just tired and have gunk in my lungs."

"Are you sure you don't want me to get your inhaler out of the bus?" Piper seemed concerned for a moment, which I appreciated.

"No thanks, Piper. I'll be fine, but thanks," I sat up and put my plate on my lap.

"Good, cause I wasn't actually going to go out there, it's pouring!" That's what I expected from her. "I'm going to go see if I can eat with Michonne and be friends with her, cause we both have swords." She walked off to go eat with Michonne.

"That seemed kind of rude," Carl thought aloud.

"That's just Piper. She can be an ass lots of the time, but she's there when it's important." I said and took a large bite of food. Rick swung by to give Carl his plate, and Carl ate gratefully.

"Weird," he said and ate more. I was going to ask him where his mom wass, and if she's even still around, but I heard the small cries of a baby.

"There's a baby here?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's my sister, Judith," Carl said. "You want to see her?"

"Sure," I said and started to get up, but Carl insisted I stay.

"Stay and finish your food," He told me. I didn't realize he finished his food. "Besides," he said with a wry smile, "It'll be a nice surprise for her." I laughed as he walked off. He came back shortly with the cutest baby I'd ever seen. She had the bluest eyes and a little tuft of brown hair.

"Awww she's so cute!" I squealed like a little girl, and that made him laugh.

"You hold her if she's so cute," he smiled and handed her off to me. I held her around her ribs and spoke to her.

"Hi there," I said gently. "I'm Jamie." I bounced her on my knee and she smiled and laughed.

"It looks like she likes you," Carl said and brushed at her hair. I put my right arm under her legs and my left one around her back and continued to bounce her.

"What do you think could've caused the outbreak in D?" I asked. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"I'm not exactly sure, but that one you took out that had me pinned? That was Patrick."

"What? How?" I couldn't control my curiosity. "He was fine when we went out to the fence, right?"

"He went inside when you and Piper were outside the fence, said he wasn't feeling that great." Carl said and looked perplexed. "Whatever he had must've been pretty bad if he died that quickly."

"Maybe it wasn't him," I thought. I was really just as confused as him about all this. "Maybe someone else had turned?"

"I don't know," He responded. "We'll need to ask around if we want to find out."

"But wasn't everyone in D killed? And, let's be real here, how many of them knew Patrick or were around him?" I brought that point up.

"Knowing him and being around him are two separate things," Carl replied hastily. He does have a point. "And not everyone in D was killed."

"Well, we've got two options: start cracking down on this now, or save it until tomorrow. It's fresh in our brains right now, but we'll have had time to sleep on it and think it over in the morning. Take your pick." I offered and gave the baby back to Rick. I came back and he answered me with, "Let's wait until tomorrow. For all we know, it could just be a wild goose chase."

"Sounds like a plan." I declared. He headed out and Piper came in with all her stuff.

"Why are you here?" I asked, not thinking to filter my thoughts.

"Thanks for the warm welcome," she retorted. "Beth wouldn't share with me, so I'm stuck with you for the time being." She chucked her overstuffed bag onto the top bunk.

"What about the other one? The black chick with the swords?" I asked.

"Her _name_ is Michonne, and she wouldn't go for it either, so, like I said, I'm stuck with you for now." She swung herself and her swords onto her bed and sighed. I settled down myself, and as I rolled over to go to sleep I heard her mutter, "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

* * *

Piper P.O.V.

I realized as soon as I'd lay down that I wasn't sleeping that night. I just couldn't. So I waited until I was sure Jaime was asleep and made my way out to the bus. I lay there for awhile with my Skyward Sword CD playing and thought. I remembered things from before all this. Like how Jamie and I and our friends would always go to Starbucks before school on Wednesdays. How I used to play the flute in band with Jamie throughout school. How I quit and she kept going,. I saw her clarinet case on the seat next to mine and picked it up. It's covered in scratches and stickers and old papers with field coordinates. I put it back. I thought of the one year we were in choir together. It was great. That was my thing. I was lost in my thoughts when I heard Jaime climb into the bus.

"What are you doing in here? I didn't hear you leave," she asked.

"I couldn't sleep. I probably won't but you should," I said as she sat on the floor next to me. "There's seats for a reason you know," I pointed out.

"I know," Jaime replied. "I just feel like sitting on the floor." She leaned her head on the seat and I closed my eyes and listened intently to the music playing throughout the bus. _Ballad of the Goddess_ came through the speakers, and we both sang the small bit that was in Hylian.

" _En, Dashadu, no bei, seine du, dien, shu tu, kieranu, sa lei,"_ we sang that twice, then let the brass fanfare fill our ears. When the song ended Jaime asked, "Do you remember that one time when you told me about your choir class where you almost passed out? That was some funny shit, bro." I laughed as I recalled.

"Oh God, Jaime. Yeah I remember. One minute I was fine and then the next I just saw white. I almost walked right off the stage."

"I remember Ms. Terpenning told us about it in band the next class. She said she had to guide you off the stage," Jaime reminisced. "I bet you looked so stupid. I wish I could've seen it firsthand."

"Kason told me I looked drunk," I remembered. "And freaking Mr. Maunu asked me if I was okay _after_ the fact I had already sat down in the audience."

"Maunu was an idiot," Jaime scoffed.

"Melhorn was worse and you know it!" I retorted and laugh slightly.

"I still think they had a secret thing for each other," she had that suspicion for many years.

"You know Maunu was married though. His wife came to sing with us when we went to Italy. She had the voice of an angel."

"I know, you've told me this many times before." We sat in silence for a while before Jaime spoke again.

"I need to practice," she picked up her case, opened it up and popped a reed into her mouth.

"You should teach me to play the clarinet," I said, curious if she would.

"Alright, go look through what we have in the undercarriage for the other one," she said as she began to put hers together. She moves for me and I went down to the bus's undercarriage and dug through all our instruments to look for the other clarinet. I pushed past our quartet of saxes, a bass clarinet, a bassoon and a mellophone. "Found it!" I called to Jaime, even though I knew she couldn't hear me, and I crawled into the small space and pulled out the other clarinet. I closed up the compartment and headed back onto the bus. Jaime fidgeted with her reed and the thing that holds it in place. When she was satisfied, she tightened the screws and sailed through a three-octave chromatic scale.

"Still works," she grinned contentedly and looked at me. "Put yours together."

"I need a reed first," I told her impatiently. She looked through her case and gave me one.

"You probably should start on a softer one than this, but this is what I have," she handed me a size 3. I stuck it in my mouth like she did and put the pieces together slowly, then held it up to her to see if I did it right.

"This look right?"

"Yup," Jaime remarked. "Now, do you know how to put your reed on?" I loosened the ligature and put the reed on the clarinet and started to tighten the screws when Jaime's hand gently gripped mine. "What?"

"Your reed's too high," she said and worked the instrument out of my grasp. "Scoot."

"Why?" My stubbornness got the better of me.

"Do you want to learn or not?" Jaime retorted. I huffed, but made space for her on my seat.

"The reed goes on there like this," she loosened the screws a bit, then pulled the reed down so it was exactly even with the mouthpiece, fidgeted with it for a minute because it was slightly diagonal, then tightened the screws. "Give it a test, make sure it works." I put it in my mouth and blew. A sharp squeak came from the instrument, and we both jumped.

"Hold your embouchure tighter," Jaime advised me and jumped back to the other seat. "You need to move your air a bit faster too, not like the flute." I tried again. A sound came out that didn't burst eardrums, and we both smiled.

"You're really flat, but that was a lot better. Now, for some notes." she held her clarinet up so I could see what she did. "When you don't hold any fingers down, that note is a G." she showed me how she wasn't touching any of the holes or keys. "Now play." I exhaled into the instrument and a note came out.

"Good," Jaime encouraged me. "Next, put down your left thumb." I did as she said. "That one is an F." I blew again and the new note came through after a squeak. Jaime laughed. "You're super squeaky, but that was good." We went down four more notes, with lots of shrill squeaking in between.

"I want to go up the scale," I said. "How do I do that?"

"Start on a B, and lift each one of your fingers," Jaime said and demonstrated, first slowly, then in a rush. I took it slowly, but it made a sort of melody. "That's so cool!" I looked at my instrument and smiled with delight. Jaime smiled too.

"Now that you know a few notes, do you want to learn the Song of Time?" she asked me, and without skipping a beat, I answered with "Yes." "Okay," she squinted as she tried to remember how the song went. She played it once, then another time to make sure she really had it down, then turned back to me.

"Alright, you're going to start on an A," she said.

"Which one is that again?" I asked, still kind of confused.

"That's the key above the hole for your index finger." She pointed on her own instrument and I played. "Good. Next is a D." she showed me and I squeaked when i tried to play. We laughed for a second, then continued. "now an F, or just your left thumb. Good. Now another A and another D. Dude you squeak worse than a rusty door hinge! Play an F. Now it gets harder. You're going to do a high C then a B natural. G, F, G, A,D, C, E, D." she finished explaining the song, then I tried to play through it. It sounded a little rough, but I got through it and Jaime high fived me and grinned.

"That was great, Piper! You're a natural," she said and we both fell into a fit of laughter. We were soon silenced by someone walking up the bus stairs. It was Rick.

"What are you two doing out here?" he questioned us.

"I wanted to learn how to play the clarinet," I answered simply. He gave me a confused look.

"It's true," Jaime declared. He gave his look to her, then to me again. He sighed exhaustedly.

"You two should get some sleep soon," he said. "You'll need it." He walked out of the bus and back inside.

"Teach me the song of storms," I looked at Jaime expectantly once he'd gone.

"I can't." she said and I frowned at her. "You don't know all the notes yet, and even if you knew the fingerings for them, you'd have trouble getting a sound out." She looked at me. "But I can play it for you if you want."

"Serenade me with the song of storms, Jaime," i said and she laughed before playing it. I hummed the notes as she played them and when it was over we both sighed, overcome with nostalgia.

"What if you taught someone here how to play an instrument?" I asked.

"Depends on if they'd want to and if I could teach them."

"If you could manage to teach me, I'm sure you can teach one of them." Jaime looked me square in the eye. "What do you mean by that?"

"Most people are a lot more patient than I am. You might have better luck."

"Well, whether or not that's true is something you'll have to wait to find out." Jaime said and yawned. "Holy shit I'm tired."

"Then go to sleep." I rolled over. The last thing I heard was Jaime closing up the clarinet cases.


	2. Chapter 2

_Day 2_

I woke up in the morning with the sun in my eye and the bus doors open. Jaime left them open, and it was freezing because of the rain. _Thanks,_ I thought. I made my way inside and saw everyone rising. I came across Carl and asked "Where's Jaime?"

"I think she's still in her cell, I'm not sure," he replied and headed outside with Rick. I found her lazily getting dressed and putting her bandana back on.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," I said, poking fun at her. "What's got you moving so slow?"

"I feel like shit," Jaime rasped, followed by a fit of coughs. "I don't know what I have, but I can't breathe for shit-" she wheezed "and my whole body hurts. I'm freezing too." She said and pulled on her letter jacket. She said that but I could see a sheen of sweat on her forehead. "Are you sure?" I asked and reached out to touch her forehead. I yanked my hand back right away, her forehead was on fire, it almost felt like she burned me. "Dude, you're not okay. Your fucking face just burned my hand," I said and she coughed.

"Who's not okay?" Hershel came by and asked us. Jaime coughed and raised her hand. "That makes two of you," he said worriedly. "I don't know what's going on, but everyone's getting sick."

"Who else is sick?" I asked.

"Glenn, and I'm pretty sure that's what killed Patrick yesterday," Hershel says. "Jaime, were you around him yesterday?"

"We both were," I answered for both of us. "He was with us at the fence yesterday and went inside because he didn't feel well." Hershel looked puzzled.

"If you both were exposed, then how come you're not sick?" he asked me.

"I don't know, whenever we went back to school as kids, if there was sickness going around Jaime was the one to get sick." He thought that over for a little bit and Jaime lay back down. As Hershel tried to think up a solution, one of the little girls from earlier came up to us.

"Hershel," she said weakly. "I don't feel good

"That makes three of you," I thought aloud. I didn't know what to do with anyone. "Do you think Rick would know what to do? He's supposed to be the boss, right?"

"We'll see if there's an empty cell block we can quarantine them in." He started to leave then looked at me. "Come with me." I followed Hershel outside and saw Rick readying Michonne, Daryl, Tyreese, and Bob to go on a run.

"Rick," Hershel called out to Rick to get his attention. Rick turned around and asked,

"What do you need Hershel?"

"There's a sickness going around, Rick," he said seriously. "We need to have a space set aside for quarantining the ones who're sick." Rick looked both puzzled and concerned.

"Who all's sick?" he asked, obviously concerned for Carl.

"Glenn, Jaime and one of the little girls," I answered.

"Lizzie," Hershel corrected me. "But that's just as far as we know at the moment." He looked to the other four that were out there. "Do any of you know of anyone else who isn't feeling well?" Tyrese spoke up.

"Karen and Sasha weren't looking too well yesterday," he said. "And David and a few others from D were coughing, too."

"Is that everybody?" Rick asked.

"I think so," I replied. "But the problem's still finding an empty space for them. Is there a clear cell block we could use?"

"The only one left's block A," Daryl said.

"But that's Death Row," Bob pointed out.

"It's the only other one," Rick concluded. "Go ahead and put them in there. Best to keep them away from the others." Rick decided. "Make sure everyone who's sick gets in there."

"Could you four hold off your run for a while?" Hershel asked them. "We may need you to grab some medications for everyone. Maybe that can help stop this."

* * *

Jaime P.O.V.

I felt awful. I was freezing one moment, then burning up the next. I couldn't breathe very well at all, and my head pounded. I lay there trying to suppress my symptoms and keep my eyes closed when Piper came in and put her hand on my shoulder.

"Come on, Jaime. We're moving all the sick ones into Block A so whatever this is doesn't spread." I stood up with great effort and we made our way over to block A. I found a bed and settled down onto it.

"Hershel's sending a few people out on a run for some meds and stuff, but they might not be leaving for a while." Piper said. I tried to reply but coughed violently. She slapped my back and I stopped.

"You look awful. You want me to grab some tea from the bus and bring it back?"

"Sure," I replied and lay back down. She headed off to do that and I pulled my bandana over my eyes. After a few minutes, Piper returned. She'd barely entered the room when we heard someone choking. She set the glass down and sprinted off to see what was happening, I slowly followed. Someone from Block D was on the ground, choking on their own blood, but not just that; it leaked from their eyes and nose as well. Piper tried to administer CPR, but the body had stopped moving. She got up and came to me, worried.

"Whoever that was just died. We need to kill her brain, but there are a bunch of others in here, including that little girl, and I don't want to freak people out." she said in a hushed tone. I leaned against the wall. I felt like shit, but I needed to help. A cart of some sort with wheels a little bit away caught my eye, and I pointed it out.

"What if we used that thing to take her away from here? Then you could do it and no one would know." I coughed and my head pounded. "I actually might not be able to help you."

"I didn't figure you'd be able to. The only thing I may need help with is getting her onto that cart thing. She wasn't the smallest girl around." Piper surveyed her options. I doubted I'd be much help, but I had to try.

"I'll do my best to help you," I took a deep breath. "Let's go." We got the woman on the cart with a bit of difficulty, but Piper was able to get her out. I headed back to my cell and collapsed on the bed, tried to catch my breath, then drank the tea. It was sweet and warm in my sore throat. I lay down to try to rest, my thoughts nostalgic.


	3. Chapter 3

_Day 3_

"Wake up," Piper urged me from my sleep. I rolled over and coughed.

"What?" I sputtered. She immediately started dragging me from my bed. "What is so important?"

"Shut up! Don't you know how to keep quiet? Just stay close and keep up," She whispered harshly to me, keeping her hold and dragging me down a dark corridor. She stopped to look around a minute, then pulled a small flashlight and aimed it at the floor just outside a cell. There was a suspicious trail of blood that led seemingly endlessly down the hall.

"What's with this?" I rasped.

"It gets worse," She said and looked at me. I gave her a questioning look, but she just said "Come on." We proceeded down the hallway and through the large metal door at the end. In the early morning light, I could see the remains of two bodies sitting in front of us, smoldering and smoking.

"What. . .Who were they? Why were they burned?" I had so many questions I couldn't even ask them all.

"I don't know, but all I do know is that they were sick, so you either need to hurry up and get well, or watch your back at all times, because if this happens to you, you know that heads are going to roll." she had a serious expression about her. I barely had time to look up when Carol, Rick, Daryl and Tyreese came out. Tyreese was in a red rage, stomping about and such.

"Somebody dragged 'em out here, and set 'em on fire! They killed 'em and set 'em on fire!" He screamed, then turned to Rick,.

"You're a cop. You find out who did this and you bring 'em to me, understand? You bring 'em to me!" Daryl said something I couldn't make out, and reached to touch Ty's arm, but Ty didn't break his stare from Rick, and batted Daryl's hand away. "I need to say it again?" he asked and Rick shook his head.

"I know what you're feeling. I've been there, you saw me there. It's dangerous." Rick looked at him and said calmly.

"Karen didn't deserve this! David didn't deserve it, nobody does!" Tyreese snapped back.

"Alright man-" Daryl started but got cut off. Tyreese turned around and pinned him to the wall. Rick and Carol stepped forward, but Daryl stuck his arm out.

"We're on the same side, man," Daryl said calmly.

"Look, I know what you're goin' through, we've all lost someone. We know what you're going through right now, but you got to calm down." Rick barely finished his sentence when Tyreese turned around and grabbed him.

"You better step the hell back!" Ty sputtered. Rick took some deep breaths, then said, "We don't want you bein' like this," and Ty punched him in the face.

"No! Stop!" Carol called out and rushed to Rick's side. Ty punched him again, and it looked like Piper'd had enough. She pulled her pistol from her belt since she left her swords elsewhere, and took aim at Tyreese.

"Stand down," She said darkly. He looked at her strangely, then stepped forward, so Piper switched off the safety. "Don't even think I won't." He made a face and grunted, but headed inside. Carol, Daryl and Rick all looked astonished.

"Why did you do that?" Carol asked her.

"Because it was bullshit," she said quickly. "We all know how it feels when this kind of thing happens, and he took it too far. Besides, we don't need him," She jerked her thumb toward Rick, "falling into bad shape with what's going on; the list is long enough. Are you okay?" I hadn't realized she had turned to me, and I hadn't realized that during all this I'd been clinging to the wall for support. "You look like you're going to fall over."

"I'm fine," my voice was hoarser than I wanted it to be. I stood up off the wall and turned to head inside, but it looked as if everything around me was suddenly very bright, radiating light and color. My vision began to swim, so I reached frantically for the wall again, and then everything went dark.

* * *

Piper P.O.V.

I watched Jaime stumble around for a moment, then she fell over backwards. Even when she wasn't sick, she was always a klutz. We all waited for a minute for her to get up, but she continued to lie motionless.

"Come on, Jaime, get up," I said impatiently. "I know you're sick, but I don't have the energy to carry you just because you're lazy." No response. Carol took a step forward to look at Jaime's face and gasped.

"Piper, she's not okay, I think she fainted, just look at her!" she tipped Jaime's head up slowly and gently for us to see. It was pale but red at the same time, a strange mix of the two. I slid to my knees to be able to reach Jaime's face and gingerly touched the back of her forehead. It was intensely hot, like yesterday, but worse.

"She's burning up, I think you're right," I said, panic bubbling up in my chest. Carol touched her face too, and another gasp escaped her lips.

"This isn't natural, it must be whatever this sickness is that she's got. We need to get her inside and fast." Rick and Daryl wasted no time, they got to either side of her and hoisted her up, Rick supporting her shoulders and Daryl supporting around her knees. I opened the door for them filing in behind Carol. We followed quickly behind them, and as we rounded the corner of the hallway into block A, Rick looked at me directly.

"You two, go get Hershel and Dr. S," he ordered. As we ran past everyone and they hauled Jaime into her cell, I saw the horrified look on Carl's face as we crossed through the door to the next cell block.

* * *

Jaime P.O.V.

I was vaguely aware of what was happening around me after I passed out. I felt a set of hands gripping the underneath of my shoulders, another around my calves. The lilting rhythm of people walking, the scuffling of rubber soles against the concrete floor. Then the wave of heat. It felt like the temperature had increased to a hundred degrees, maybe more. _Definitely_ _more_. Even though I was only semi-conscious, I felt the sweat running down my arms, my legs, my face. I zoned out for a while, long enough that the next thing I felt was being set down on my bed. I caught bits of phrases coming from around me, but nothing enough to decipher anything comprehensible. I felt my jacket come off, and the rush of cool air surrounding me. Someone pulled my bandana off my head, then lay it across my forehead, cool with water. I heard running, fast-paced and uneven. More voices around me, but things were becoming discernible. I couldn't speak yet, so I just listened to what the others had to say.

"When did this happen?" Hershel's gravelly voice was calm.

"I don't know, maybe five or ten minutes ago? We were outside and she just fell over, and once we got her back in, she started sweating buckets." Piper was failing in her attempt to stay calm. "Isn't there anything else you can do?"

"Not without the meds that the others are looking for," Dr. S was clearly irritated with Piper's stubbornness. I didn't want a fight, and I needed a drink. None of them seemed to notice I was awake, so I opened my eyes and moaned. There was a collective sigh of relief, and Piper handed me a glass. I sat up slowly and took a sip. The fresh tea tasted delicious, soothed my sore throat, and quenched my thirst. I inhaled the scent of it deeply, the minty scent was a welcome change from the stale air in the cell block.

"I think she'll be alright," Hershel said with a smile. "Just keep drinking and get some rest." He patted my shoulder and left. Dr. S looked at me seriously.

"You should be fine, but if anything unusual happens, make sure someone knows about it." He left without another word. I looked at Piper and sank back onto the bed. "What happened?"

"That depends. What's the last thing you remember?"

"Um. You pointed your gun at Tyreese." Piper laughed slightly.

"Okay. So after that, he went inside all huffy, and then Rick and Carol and Daryl looked at me like I was an axe murderer and they were next on the list. I explained why I did it, but then I heard your jacket sliding down the wall, and you looked like you were going to fall over and die. But we both know how you are, and you insisted you could get it, and started to try to go in, and as soon as you got off the wall, you couldn't keep your balance. You staggered around for a couple seconds and fell over, but," she looked at me sheepishly, "I thought you just didn't have your balance, so I expected you to get up, but then I saw the color of your face, so Rick and Daryl got you inside while Carol and I got Hershel and Dr. S."

"How long was I out?"

"I couldn't tell you exactly how long it was, but no more than a few minutes. You're gonna be fine soon, and back to being annoying." I play-slapped her thigh and she smiled, leaving me alone. Well, almost alone. Once she left, I saw Carl standing just outside the doorway.

"You know you're not supposed to be here," I warned him, but he'd already been around it, so what did it matter? "You can come in if you want, though." He complied immediately.

"Are you okay?" He asked me, concerned. I coughed and took a long sip of tea, and answered with, "Peachy."

"No, really. I saw my dad hauling you in and at first I thought you died."

"Not dead. Just saw some heavy shit, and, if you haven't noticed, I'm sick as hell." I coughed, more violently this time, and followed with another drink of tea.

"Heavy shit? What happened?" His concern turned to worry.

"Didn't your dad tell you?" I stalled.

"No."

"Someone killed Karen and David and then burned their bodies. Piper showed me to try to give me a motive to get better. Didn't help, as you can see." I coughed violently and Carl stepped back. "What are you doing down here?" I asked him tentatively.

"I'm not actually supposed to be here. I'm supposed to be on patrol where the others are," he looked at me sheepishly.

"Then why are you here?" the coughing was growing painful. I sank back to the pillows again, light headed.

"I actually needed to talk to my dad, but then I saw him dragging you in, and I got sidetracked."

"What was so important–" I sputtered again, "that you needed to come all the way down here to the morgue for?"

For a minute, he looked extremely offended that I'd called this place a morgue, but he hid his expression quickly in exchange for something more serious.

"A truck came through earlier with its guns blazing. We took it out, but I think it might be one of the Governor's guys." He seemed to cringe when he said 'Governor,' but it didn't quite add up to me.

"Haven't you seen the news lately?" I said, my voice heavy with sarcasm, "THe government's been abolished." He shook his head. "No, it's not so literal. The Governor is this guy, he had a town before last winter called Woodbury, and he ran it, and that's what the people there called him. He tried to ambush us right at the beginning of last winter, and he killed a bunch of his own people. But my dad took in the ones he didn't kill, like Tyreese and Sasha and Karen and David were there before he went berserk."

"So this guy's out to get you?" I tried to comprehend.

"Pretty much."

"This is almost like a movie plot. Your dad's group are the heroes and this guy's the villain," I chuckled. "He's even got a name down, The Governor! Ooh, scary!" With my best effort, I made a fake scary face and held my fingers like talons. Carl laughed. "You're pretty funny. But we do need to keep an eye out if anyone shows up again."

"I'll keep my post here," I said, sarcasm evident in my hoarse whisper.

"Daryl and the others should be back with the meds you need soon, they were just getting ready to leave, so try not to worry." He turned to leave, but said hesitantly, "I hope you feel better," then left quickly.


End file.
